The Greater Victoria Housing Society (GVHS) is transforming its existing low-income seniors housing property at 1780 Townley into a vibrant new community. The new Townley Place will provide low-income seniors housing within a Passivhaus designed apartment and affordable family townhouses. Passivhaus design provides the highest levels of building energy efficiency through the building envelope rather than mechanical heating and cooling systems, which are often expensive to maintain. With this renewal, the GVHS is establishing a new, not-for-profit, housing standard for functionality, energy efficiency, social interaction, and wellness.

The project will include contemporary planning principles of increased density and street vitality, and sustainable design features, such as walkability, diversity, health and wellness, food gardens, water conservation, solar orientation, natural ventilation, and energy efficiency.

Project Features

· 3 and 4-storey seniors apartment building designed to Passivhaus standard and purpose-built to meet the needs of seniors & people with disabilities; built to adaptable housing standards (replaces obsolete building with no elevator, poor accessibility & outdated bathrooms)

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The Greater Victoria Housing Society (GVHS) has unveiled plans for Canada's first "Passivhaus" seniors residence as it looks to expand and modernize its Townley Lodge affordable housing complex.

The non-profit society is seeking approvals from Saanich to replace an aging low-income seniors home at 1780 Townley Street. The largest of the proposal's four buildings will be constructed in accordance with standards developed by the global authority on ultra-efficient construction techniques, Germany's Passivhaus Institut (also referred to as Passivehouse Institute).

Townley Place has received unanimous support from Saanich's Advisory Design Panel http://goo.gl/Iq5By3 . It is great to see community leaders and professionals standing behind a strong proposal. This project has great merit and will truly be a legacy project for Saanich and the greater CRD. The environmental considerations taken by the proponent should serve as a new baseline in Sustainable Saanich. Well done to all those involved! A real blow to the NIMBY narrative.

Saanich: 40 units for low-income adults in the workforce constructed with the help of $3 million in capital funding to the Greater Victoria Housing Society. Construction expected to begin in summer 2017 with completion projected for late 2018.

Our region is so fundamentally at odds with reality sometimes. This is a social housing project for seniors and young families. How could council even consider putting the project in this position? Time is money, and a lowering of units just means they'll have to go elsewhere.

Nparker and nagel like this

Know it all.Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.

Support tends to be specific whereas opposition tends to be generic. If you like it, you probably like it because of what it is, but if you don't like it then you probably don't really care what it is. That sort of thing. Not always, of course. But often.

That's how you get mired in those endless sagas whereby a proposal is modified again and again over many months or even many years. It's just a futile effort to satisfy a generic opposition that doesn't even care about the particulars of the modifications.